Harry Potter and His Shadows

Chapter 6: Welcomed to darkness

Harry and Voldemort walked down to the dining room for dinner, having agreed that, at least for now, Harry would take no part in the war. For both, it was clear that Harry would not be returning to the light, and a tension that had been previously unnoticeable to them before, had disappeared. Walking into the room, the Death Eaters stood as the Dark Lord entered. Look at them, the little minions. No wonder their shadows flock to you, superior. Harry giggled, ignoring the strange looks on everyone's faces as Voldemort glanced at his shadow and smirked. Harry was glad someone finally understood him. Taking his seat, to the left of Tom he started to eat, ignoring how the other occupants hadn't even sat down yet. "Harry, generally people wait for me to eat before gratifying themselves." Voldemort hissed at him. Harry rolled his eyes and stood up, reaching over the table to grab the cheese and cucumber sandwiches along with a salad. He dumped them both in front of Tom before resuming his healthy dinner of fish and chips. "Happy?" He said, ignoring the mixture of shocked and infuriated faces now seated at the table.

Tom simply sat, deciding that perhaps it would be best to simply become used to Potter's brusk way of things. A true lion with Slytherin mettle. "You're more observant than most give you credit for." He replied, refering to his favourite meal that the boy had lay before him. "Yeah, well someone likes to put me in a bad light." Harry replied, glaring at the spy master to the right of him. Voldemort struggled not to chuckle at the boys animosity to the professor. It was true, from what Severus had said of the boy, you would have expected Potter to behave more like a Weasley with the Malfoy attitude. He snorted at the idea, and then froze. He'd just laughed. Normally. In front of people. Harry's Merlin be damned shadow magic! He went to glare at the boy, but was surprised to see a wide smile directed his way. "Maybe you should laugh non-maniacally more in the future, your royal darkness." Instead of being infuriated like he normally would, Tom was simply amused. "Well perhaps you should address me in such a way more often as well." Potter just snorted and returned to his meal. Yes, Potter was nothing like he expected.

Severus could not keep his silence any longer. Nothing was making sense, and he had a duty to Lily. He sweet Lily. If only he'd known, she would still be alive, she wouldn't have chosen James over him! As everyone stood to leave, he turned towards the two that remained, The Dark Lord and Potter. "My Lord, if it would be acceptable, I would like to speak of some things with you and.... Potter." The boy in question groaned and rolled his eyes, before furrowing his brows and slumping in his seat. Typical rude little brat. Teenagers. Severus simply didn't understand why The Dark Lord hadn't cursed the boy yet. Of course he wouldn't kill such a valuable asset as a shadow mage, but surely a crucio would temper the boy? Suddenly both Potter and The Dark Lord sat up in their seats and glared furiously at him.

Harry had been thinking over all the reasons he hated  Snape, when an idea occured to him. One he'd used before. Subtly, Cherié detached himself from Harry and slid over to Snape's shadow. Harry had done this in his first year, discovering exactly why Snape hated him so much. And hadn't that been a surprise? Snape was in love with his mother. Gross! He looked over at Tom and noticed he was paying a ridiculous amount of attention to the slimy git, and through the link discovered that Tom was using Legilimency. Naughty! Harry smirked and then froze at the words Cherié relayed back to him from Snape's shadow. Surely a crucio would temper the boy? Harry sat up, glaring at the bitter man. Did he really hate him that much?

Voldemort had been sifting through Snape's mind, looking for his true intentions. Unfortunately, he could find very little, as his spy was an excellent Occlumens. Unfortunately for Snape, Tom strangely enough picked something up from his link with Harry. He heard Cherié. He instantly stood, wand in hand, ready to curse Severus for thinking such things about Lord Voldemorts ally, but was stopped suddenly by a hand at his wrist. "As much as I appreciate the fact cursing me isn't a fun thought to you anymore, I'm sick of him bullying me..." Tom, smirked, before gesturing to Severus. "Severus, you will not treat Harry in such a way. He isn't the ignorant brat you wish him to be, but he is a shadow mage. Perhaps now you will understand what that means." Harry smirked, caressing the now corporeal form of two shadows, one in the oily black hair of Cherié, and the other, the fur of a large black wolf, crawling from the non-sentient shadows by the wall. Hurt him, nothing permanent, and do not kill him. Both Voldemort and Harry simply sat as Severus began to scream at the treatment from Harry's precious shadows. Yes, Harry was no golden boy, not anymore.